AFL-CIO President Touts Labor’s Role In Improving New Trade Deal – By Don Gonyea (NPR) / Dec 20 2019
A top national labor leader is touting a new multilateral trade deal, and says his union side much improved the Trump administration’s initial proposal.
The comments from Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, came Wednesday, just before the House overwhelmingly approved the pact called the USMCA.
The new deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which now heads to the Senate, would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
House passes USMCA implementation bill 386-41. Almost equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans voted in favor of the trade deal: 194 Ds, 192 Rs.
— scott horsley (@HorsleyScott) December 19, 2019
Meanwhile, President Trump on Tuesday night lauded the “great” new trade deal during a campaign rally in Michigan — a state where dislike of NAFTA runs high.
“We’re getting rid of NAFTA, which I think is the worst trade deal ever,” the president said to cheers.
As a candidate in 2016, Trump pledged to scrap NAFTA. That promise played well in battleground states in the Midwest. As president, he says it’s a promise kept.
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790077622/the-usmca-and-the-labor-movement
